The Mysterious Stuff of Alton Towers

What rides and attractions do you miss? Share your memories of Alton Towers' extensive past here.
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.Will

[quote=""DiogoJ42""]:lol: Why would they spend thousands making a prop bus, when they can get a real (scrap) one for next to nothing?
:no:[/quote]

Exactly, it makes sense doesn't it?

:D
Hark

Just to clear up Nemesis queue rumours:

Queue by Stall Turn
The queue that is welded off by the Stall turn was not that long.. in fact you can see where it ended and looped back from the fence, the reason it is not used anymore is that the brickwork has become loose and dangerous and the fact that if you were to hop that fence you'd end up in Air's ride area which is obviously a nono! So don't try and go looking!

Queueline by the Loop
That is still there (partly) and is Area 3 of the queueline, it's only ever used on VERY busy days!

Mysterious Tunnel/Queue
As seen in this photo:
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The queue does go under the monorail in a very overgrown tunnel-esque type thing, however it is all very overgrown now, the brick work has again become loose and the safety netting for the monorail has become damaged so would be dangerous to allow guests under there who could cause themself harm with passing monorails. However a nice little fact that in that small tunnel is a very nicely rusted and Nemsis themed bose speaker which no longer works! The queue line by lava lump I believe was used as old bonkershaker queue line and is no longer used.

Regarding the bus:
There's not a lot really in there - Just a smoke machine, empty smoke fluid bottles and a ladder throughout the middle of the bus - As a staff member it's actually quite difficult to get in there - Takes a bit of climbing!
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thefatone
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As for old area which goes under monorail - you could walk through, its been fenced off on the dynamo side of things. The queue is massive over there, some of it was used relatively recently i'm sure - but other parts of it have a good layer of grass in its pathway.

You could walk around it if you want - no safety issues as stuff have been fenced off, so you wont be able to get into unsafe areas without walking over stuff.

The best of all of this area - its grass is cut every few weeks. Why? Because you can see it all through the monorail windows!
Rowe

[quote=""?V?""][quote=""barryzola""]I once took the camcorder and upon exiting Nemesis asked very nicely if i could just hop the gate to the old queueline to get some footage for old times sake from different angles. Helps if you're not with a posse of people and most would probably say no, but the kind gent probably thought i looked sensible and told me it was ok. Worth asking, but obviously it's very understandable if they say no due to health and safely regulations.[/quote]

Upon closer inspection of the "mining cage" by the Nemesis stall turn you will find lots of old Ministry Of Defence signs that are now all covered over. And also the old "Nemesis" logo sign was/is by large tree opposite the station on the other side of the loop. Rested against the base
[/quote]

Wow, I'd like to see photos of where the MOD signs are as well as the old Nemesis logo too. It would also be great if there were more photos past the stall turn too, including the area by the lift hill and stretching out to Dynamo's old spot.

But it's more than slightly likely that some members have these photos and (hopefully) videos up of these old queue spots :P

Are there any other abandoned queuelines on park? The only one I can think of is Duel.
DiogoJ42

Duel has an abandoned queue line? :? I know they hardly ever use the outside part, but I wouldn't say it was abandoned. Black Hole is the obvious one that comes to mind.
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John
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The extended duel queue is in 3 parts. They were using the first 2 parts for Duel live/Skelvin's haunted adventure, but the other section is now in a very poor condition and could well have been officially abandoned.
DiogoJ42

Hmm, I guess. But it's hardly on the epic scale of nemy's ex-queue.

Thought: is there any trace left of the original rapids queue? Or was that all destroyed when Wardley worked his magic? :?
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thefatone
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[quote=""Rowe""]
Wow, I'd like to see photos of... the old Nemesis logo too... including the area by the lift hill [/quote]
Just ask a staff member by the entrance if you can go up to "area three" for photos - they almost definitely wont say no - it's a queueline afterall and usually very understanding!
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verfum
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There is an abandoned trail from Swiss Cottage that has all sorts of old park litter, an abandoned toilet block, and finally ends up at some strange rocks. Looking back at park maps to 1981 shows no signs of this area. Looking back further, my 1960 park map shows it as possibly being 'Cuckoo Rock / Cuckoo Arbour' ?
On our trip down this path (16th May '11) our group found some old non-bio degradable Henry Hound drinks cups, a 1980's SKOL beer can (use by 1990 on bottom), and a 19th century Cochrane Ginger Beer bottle!
Jim climbed the alternative 'stone henge' rocks and fell off - luckily the gound around was spongy with years of fallen foliage.

Does anyone know anymore about this area - it's only a few minutes walk from the cottage?
The rocks are impressive and so is the view further down the valley. I wonder why it's now an abandoned/unmanaged?

Start off at the stairs by Swiss Cottage at the left as you look at the front of the house.
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Then this leads to a seemingly unmanaged path.
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First is the abandoned loos. These are really squeezed in and not much room around them. There is a slope immediately in front of them and no room for a path, unless it has badly eroded. Why are they here, when were they last in operation? There are various bits of rock and concrete about and abandoned steps.
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We then found the old litter, not cleaned up - you could find plenty of it.
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And some 19th century litter!
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This is a photo I found on the internet like the bottle found.
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Then further down the path we reach the rocks. We could see signs of wood planks at the edges marking the path - now mostly covered by dirt/foliage.
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Any more info on this area, and indeed confirmation that it is 'Cuckoo Rocks' would be useful.
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spark
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Great find and pics, might have to check that out when i go :clap:
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Rob_Green94
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Oooh Nice, where's the swiss cottage?
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Coke
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In the gardens, it used to be a sit down restaurant
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Are you thirsty?
Dormiens-Dave

You can see swiss cottage from the path that links the towers to mutiny bay. Its on the dark forest side of the valley.

The rich nature of the gardens and valley is really interesting... If you take the steps down from near the hotel end of the woodland walk theres more weird rock formations to see.

Theres also things like the bear cave to admire that most guests never see
oldgitBEN

it is such a shame that alton dont promote these areas half as much as they should.

Just a little map near the hotel woodland walk, or at the main entrances to the gardens would be so much. Throw a few bits of history on there, hey presto something simple that means alot.
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Magrathea
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As nice as it would be to make more people aware of things like this...I think that takes something away from the whole experience.

I'd say half the magic of exploring the gardens and areas around Woodland Walk is the fact that you'll seldom stumble across ANYONE. You feel like you're making these discoveries yourself and unearthing long-forgotten areas, and I think that would be taken away if you were simply following a route on a map behind a trail of 50 others.
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Rob_Green94
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Those rocks almost look like bits of nemesis themeing, what were they used for anyway, and why are they their? so many unanswered questions!
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gaz1313
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Those rocks almost look like bits of nemesis themeing, what were they used for anyway, and why are they their?
These rocks have been there for many many years! They used to be part of the rock walk in the 70's, so long long before Nemesis. They are however, very very interesting pieces of the Tower's history.
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.Will

Wow some really good photos there. I will have a look see next time I go up.

:)
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UltimateDingbat
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Really enjoyed reading all this. Now if only I could nab a bit more time to go and see them for myself. I'd love to explore all teh weird places in the park!
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[quote=""verfum""]Looking back further, my 1960 park map shows it as possibly being 'Cuckoo Rock / Cuckoo Arbour' ?

Any more info on this area, and indeed confirmation that it is 'Cuckoo Rocks' would be useful.[/quote]

You kinda have been to the Cuckoo Arbour, but not quite. The Cuckoo Arbour, as I understand it would be almost 100ft directly above you on the cliff top. However I think you can safely say you have found the Cuckoo Rock, as I would imagine that is the cliff face which appears in your photos. (Though I've never seen a reference to a Cuckoo Rock before, only the Cuckoo Arbour and the Cuckoo Rook).

That said I've never seen that rock formation before either, and it does look very much like an arbour... I'll do some digging see what I can find. There are hundreds of features like the ones you found all the way through the gardens, which dated back from the Victorian period, when the Gardens really were sprawling. (there's quite a few abandonned toilet blocks as well... not Victorian though. lol)

The path you were on was last advertised to the public on the 1990 map, which would be in keeping with the rubbish you found, but the woodland walks were very much abandoned as soon as Tussauds took over.
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